Anne Trafton - MIT Technology Review http://www.technologyreview.com/stream/21251/?sort=recent
enSimple Sensorshttp://www.technologyreview.com/article/534886/simple-sensors/
<p>Sniffing out danger cheaply.</p><p>MIT chemists have devised a new way to wirelessly detect hazardous gases and environmental pollutants, using a simple sensor that can be read by a smartphone. With inexpensive sensors, the researchers detected ammonia, hydrogen peroxide, and cyclohexanone, among other gases.</p>Wed, 18 Feb 2015 05:00:02 +0000http://www.technologyreview.com/article/534886/simple-sensors/Anthrax Makeoverhttp://www.technologyreview.com/article/532991/anthrax-makeover/
<p>Researchers harness deadly bacteria’s delivery mechanism to fight cancer.</p><p><em>Bacillus anthracis</em> bacteria have exceptionally efficient machinery for injecting toxic proteins into cells, leading to the potentially deadly infection known as anthrax. A team of MIT researchers has now hijacked that delivery system for a different purpose: administering cancer drugs.</p>Thu, 18 Dec 2014 05:00:01 +0000http://www.technologyreview.com/article/532991/anthrax-makeover/A Turning Pointhttp://www.technologyreview.com/article/533056/a-turning-point/
<p>Robert Desimone, head of MIT’s McGovern Institute for Brain Research, thinks ­breakthroughs in understanding mental illness are just around the corner.</p><p><br />When Robert Desimone was 18, he spent a month at a state mental hospital. He was there not as a patient but as a college freshman, on January break from Macalester College, who had been given the opportunity to live alongside and observe patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. During that month, he got to know a patient in her 30s who suffered from schizophrenia. A promising college student before her diagnosis, she had not responded to any of the treatments.</p>Thu, 18 Dec 2014 05:00:00 +0000http://www.technologyreview.com/article/533056/a-turning-point/Slacker’s Payoffhttp://www.technologyreview.com/article/531561/slackers-payoff/
<p>Trying too hard can make learning languages harder.</p><p>When learning languages, adults and children have different strengths. Adults excel at absorbing vocabulary, but children can easily pick up on subtle nuances of language that often elude adults.</p>Tue, 21 Oct 2014 04:00:02 +0000http://www.technologyreview.com/article/531561/slackers-payoff/Spying on the Brainhttp://www.technologyreview.com/article/527886/spying-on-the-brain/
<p>Researchers use MRI to track dopamine and map neural activity.</p><p>Launched in 2013, the national <a href="http://www.nih.gov/science/brain/" target="_blank">BRAIN Initiative</a> aims to revolutionize our understanding of cognition by mapping the activity of every neuron in the human brain, revealing how brain circuits interact to create memories, encode new skills, and interpret the world around us.</p>Tue, 17 Jun 2014 04:00:01 +0000http://www.technologyreview.com/article/527886/spying-on-the-brain/Flash Photohttp://www.technologyreview.com/article/526211/flash-photo/
<p>We can process images much faster than expected.</p><p>Imagine seeing a dozen pictures flash by in a fraction of a second. You might think it would be impossible to identify any images you see for such a short time. However, a team of MIT neuroscientists has found that the human brain can process entire images seen for as little as 13 milliseconds—the first evidence of such rapid processing speed.</p>Wed, 23 Apr 2014 04:00:01 +0000http://www.technologyreview.com/article/526211/flash-photo/Can You Teach Logical Analysis?http://www.technologyreview.com/article/524206/can-you-teach-logical-analysis/
<p>Schools that raise test scores aren’t ­necessarily producing better thinkers.</p><p><br />In many states, passing a standardized test is necessary to receive a high school diploma. These exams have also been shown to predict students’ future educational attainment, employment, and income.</p>Tue, 18 Feb 2014 05:00:01 +0000http://www.technologyreview.com/article/524206/can-you-teach-logical-analysis/Parallel Processinghttp://www.technologyreview.com/article/524196/parallel-processing/
<p>How the brain learns without forgetting.</p><p>When the brain learns a new motor skill, neurons form circuits that activate the body’s muscles to perform it. But the same distributed network controls related motor tasks, so when you try to learn many skills at once, new modifications to existing patterns can interfere with previously learned skills.</p>Tue, 18 Feb 2014 05:00:01 +0000http://www.technologyreview.com/article/524196/parallel-processing/“Hunger Hormone” Linked to PTSDhttp://www.technologyreview.com/article/522466/hunger-hormone-linked-to-ptsd/
<p>Chronic stress elevates ghrelin, increasing susceptibility to fear.</p><p>About a dozen years ago, scientists discovered that a hormone called ghrelin enhances appetite. Dubbed the “hunger hormone,” it was quickly targeted by drug companies seeking treatments for obesity—none of which have yet panned out.</p>Tue, 17 Dec 2013 05:00:01 +0000http://www.technologyreview.com/article/522466/hunger-hormone-linked-to-ptsd/A Quick Test for Blood Clotshttp://www.technologyreview.com/article/522461/a-quick-test-for-blood-clots/
<p>Screening method may be adaptable for cancer, too.</p><p>Life-threatening blood clots can form in anyone who sits on a plane for a long time, is confined to bed while recovering from surgery, or takes certain medications.</p>Tue, 17 Dec 2013 05:00:01 +0000http://www.technologyreview.com/article/522461/a-quick-test-for-blood-clots/Closing a Back Door for Cancerhttp://www.technologyreview.com/article/522446/closing-a-back-door-for-cancer/
<p>Drugs that block a new target gene could make chemotherapy more effective.</p><p>About half of all cancer patients have a mutation in a gene called p53, which codes for a tumor-suppressing protein that controls cell division. That mutation allows tumors to continue growing even after chemotherapy damages their DNA.</p>Tue, 17 Dec 2013 05:00:01 +0000http://www.technologyreview.com/article/522446/closing-a-back-door-for-cancer/A Golden On-Off Switchhttp://www.technologyreview.com/article/520051/a-golden-on-off-switch/
<p>Gold nanoparticles could be used to regulate blood clotting.</p><p>Using gold nanoparticles, MIT researchers have devised a new way to turn blood clotting on and off. The particles, which are controlled by infrared laser light, could promote wound healing or help doctors regulate blood clotting in patients undergoing surgery.</p>Tue, 22 Oct 2013 04:00:00 +0000http://www.technologyreview.com/article/520051/a-golden-on-off-switch/A Very Close Look at the Eyehttp://www.technologyreview.com/article/520041/a-very-close-look-at-the-eye/
<p>Diagramming the wiring of retinal neurons is a first step toward mapping the brain.</p><p>The human brain has 100 billion neurons, connected to each other in networks that allow us to interpret the world around us, plan for the future, and control our actions and movements. MIT neuroscientist Sebastian Seung wants to map those networks, creating a wiring diagram of the brain that could help scientists learn how we become our unique selves.</p>Tue, 22 Oct 2013 04:00:00 +0000http://www.technologyreview.com/article/520041/a-very-close-look-at-the-eye/Do-It-All Neuronshttp://www.technologyreview.com/article/517846/do-it-all-neurons/
<p>A key to cognitive flexibility.</p><p>Over the past few decades, neuroscientists have made great progress in mapping the brain by deciphering the functions of individual neurons that perform very specific tasks, such as recognizing the location or color of an object. </p>Wed, 21 Aug 2013 04:00:00 +0000http://www.technologyreview.com/article/517846/do-it-all-neurons/The Quest for an Artificial Liverhttp://www.technologyreview.com/article/517831/the-quest-for-an-artificial-liver/
<p>Researchers form compounds that help liver cells grow outside<br /> the body.</p><p>Prometheus, the mythological figure who stole fire from the gods, was punished by being bound to a rock. Each day, an eagle swept down and fed on his liver, which then grew back to be eaten again the next day. </p>Wed, 21 Aug 2013 04:00:00 +0000http://www.technologyreview.com/article/517831/the-quest-for-an-artificial-liver/Going Underhttp://www.technologyreview.com/article/515426/going-under/
<p>Study of anesthesia-induced brain-wave patterns could help doctors make sure patients don’t wake up during operations</p><p>Since the mid-1800s, doctors have used drugs to induce general anesthesia in patients undergoing surgery. However, little is known about how these drugs create such a profound loss of consciousness. </p>Tue, 18 Jun 2013 04:00:00 +0000http://www.technologyreview.com/article/515426/going-under/Fast Breakhttp://www.technologyreview.com/article/515416/fast-break/
<p>Metastatic cells move through tight spaces more quickly than ordinary cells</p><p>Most cancer deaths are caused by metastatic tumors, which break free from the original cancer site and spread throughout the body. Many of the genetic changes that allow cells to become metastatic have been studied extensively, but it has been more difficult to study the physical changes that contribute to this process. </p>Tue, 18 Jun 2013 04:00:00 +0000http://www.technologyreview.com/article/515416/fast-break/Always Presenthttp://www.technologyreview.com/article/515406/always-present/
<p>The patient who transformed the science of memory</p><p>Suzanne Corkin was a graduate student at McGill University when she met a young man named Henry Molaison in 1962. She spent several days giving him memory tests as she gathered data for her PhD thesis. But each day she had to reintroduce herself, as Molaison had almost completely lost the ability to form new memories.</p>Tue, 18 Jun 2013 04:00:00 +0000http://www.technologyreview.com/article/515406/always-present/Hacking HIVhttp://www.technologyreview.com/article/513211/hacking-hiv/
<p>Thirty-four million people in the world are infected with HIV. Only eight million have access to life-saving drugs, and there’s no effective vaccine. Researchers at the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard won’t rest until they find one.</p><p>On a May afternoon in 2008, Bruce Walker and Terry Ragon <span>’</span>71 paid a recruiting visit to MIT. Walker is a Harvard Medical School physician who has studied HIV for three decades; Ragon, the founder and CEO of a software company called InterSystems, was about to bankroll a new $100 million research institute to develop HIV vaccines, with Walker at its head.</p>Tue, 23 Apr 2013 04:00:00 +0000http://www.technologyreview.com/article/513211/hacking-hiv/Beating Cancer at Its Own Gamehttp://www.technologyreview.com/article/513171/beating-cancer-at-its-own-game/
<p>Some cancer cell mutations can slow or halt tumor growth</p><p>A typical cancer cell has hundreds of mutated genes, but only a handful, known as drivers, are responsible for cancerous traits such as uncontrolled growth. Biologists have largely ignored the other mutations, believing they had little or no impact on cancer progression. </p>Tue, 23 Apr 2013 04:00:00 +0000http://www.technologyreview.com/article/513171/beating-cancer-at-its-own-game/